Nohemi C. A. Voglozin, PhD

Non-Profit/International Development/ Workforce Development/Outreach

 

Consultant, FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) & CIRAD (Agricultural Research for Development) | Washington, DC | January 2016 -Present

As part of a multi-agencies team (FAO & CIRAD (France)) working on “Global Networking On In Situ Conservation And On-Farm Management Of Plant Genetic Resources For Food And Agriculture”. Responsibilities include:

• Development of a tool for the classification of existing organizations and initiatives involved in conservation and on-farm management of PGRFA (Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Alimentation) at local, national, regional and global levels.

• Description of existing networks and coordination of mechanisms of exchange of information between, or coordination of stakeholders involved in, conservation and on-farm management of PGRFA at local, national, regional and global levels.

• Analysis of gaps and needs of analysis in the global landscape of networks and coordination mechanisms for conservation and on-farm management of PGRFA.

• Identification of a list of 10 to 15 key stakeholders at global level involved in current networks for conservation and on-farm management for interviews.

 

Consultant, Office of Agriculture & Food Security | Africare | Washington, DC | June 2015 – Present

As part of the International Programs Team, specifically Agriculture and Food Security, provides technical expertise on issues related to the strengthening of African food systems, the capacity building and empowerment of African farmers, program management, monitoring and evaluation of projects, and the effectiveness of delivery of current and forthcoming commitments. Responsibilities include:

• Translation of documents from English to French: MOUs, Contracts, Organigrams, etc.

• Review monthly and quarterly reports to donors for several ongoing projects in different sub-Saharan African countries.

• Translation of documents from English to French: MOUs, Contracts, Organigrams

• Provide technical input to the “Initiative for Economic Empowerment of Women Entrepreneurs Project” (IEEWEP), Chad funded by Exxon Mobil, and managed and implemented by Africare.

• Provide technical input to the “Rapid Assistance to Pastoralist in Sahel Region of Burkina Faso/Phase 2 (RAPS2 /BF)” project. Funded by USAID/OFDA.

• Provide technical input and administrative support to the Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA) special support project “Farmer-to-Farmer”, Zambia. Funded by USAID.

 

Program Development Intern | OIC International | Washington, DC | December 2014 – May 2015

As part of the Business Development Team, contributed to the capture management process for workforce development in Africa. Responsibilities included:

• Reviewed and provided technical input as peer reviewer for a BENIN USDA Food for Progress proposal submission.

• Provided private sector research for potential donors and partners for the Walmart Foundation funded program EARN (Empowered Africans for Retail Needs) in Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya.

• Developed, collected and analyzed field data for effective program development implementation.

• Provided technical input on the viability of new initiatives and the design of programs and campaigns, e.g.

  • Solutions promoting acceptance of mobile payments by merchants, for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Explorations Round 15.

  • Exploration of training of African workforce to digital jobs in collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation.

  • Assessment of partnership for trade of second-hand goods with Goodwill®.

• Participated in the 2015 World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund Spring meetings, representing the organization and engaged with potential partners/donors leading to the exploration of potential business opportunities.

 

Research/Education/Project design, implementation and management

 

Postdoctoral fellow | University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Department of Geography and Environmental Systems (GES) | Baltimore, MD | August 2013 – November 2014

• Designed independent research on the genetic diversity of African rice (Oryza glaberrima):  “Folk varieties or bonanza of genes: Spatial distribution of genetic diversity of African rice (Oryza glaberrima) varieties at a farm, village and regional scale in Benin, West Africa”.

• Wrote a proposal and secured an international funding of $17, 100, the Vavilov-Frankel Fellowship to carry out the research.

• Managed organizational budget, including grant management and reporting.

 

Doctoral Candidate | University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Department of Geography and Environmental Systems | Baltimore, MD | August 2007 – December 2013

• Wrote proposal and was awarded the Norman E. Borlaug Leadership Enhancement in Agriculture Program (LEAP) Fellowship ($19,900).

• Appointed, coached, coordinated and supervised a team of 8 interviewers during the pre-tests and final personal and focus interviews.

•    Collected socio-economic and agro-ecological data using ethnographic surveys.

• Gathered rice accessions from farmers and facilitated their transport in the USA in compliance with the international phytosanitary regulation policies.

• Designed and conducted experiments, growing the rice seeds in the greenhouse at UMBC.

• Extracted DNA from rice leaves and performed PCR.

• Produced maps using ESRI ArcGIS to develop a base-line understanding of rice genetic resources and areas for conservation in Benin.

• Wrote publications and reports on scientific findings for educational and community based work.

 

Guest Lecturer, GES 313 (Biogeography). | University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Department of Geography and Environmental Systems | Baltimore, MD | Title: “Ecogeography” |10/04/2011

 

Graduate Teaching Assistant | University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Department of Geography and Environmental Systems | Baltimore, MD | August 2007 – December 2013

• Conducted and instructed weekly labs with graduate students for the course GES 286 “Exploring the Environment: A Geo-Spatial Perspective”.

• Tutored and coached individual students in the Cartography and GIS labs.

 

Research Fellow |Laboratory of Applied Ecology| University of Abomey-Calavi | Benin | June 2003 – August 2007

• Secured funding from British Ecological Society (Overseas Bursaries and Fellowships, £6,400) and The International Foundation for Science (IFS, $11,200) Fellowship.

• Provided scientific expertise to visiting scholars and participated in the collection of bats, and analysis of their diversity in Lama Forest Reserve, Benin.

 

Workshop/Conference Facilitator

 

• Panelist: Conference on "Effective African Women’s Empowerment through Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM ), World Bank, Washington, DC (Monday, June 15th 2015).

• Chaired Paper Session 5423: Environmental Impacts and conservation, Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Tampa, Florida (April 2014) and Paper Session 1444: Challenges for the Agricultural sector in Africa, Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Seattle, Washington (April 2011).